Xiaohongshu Reportedly Secures Chinese World Cup 2026 Streaming Rights From CMG, Douyin Steps Aside
Xiaohongshu (RedNote) has secured sublicensing rights to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in China from state broadcaster China Media Group, according to multiple sources cited by TechNode. The package covers live streaming and short-video secondary content creation. Douyin, the tournament's headline digital distributor in 2022, has stepped away from bidding this cycle. No financial details have been disclosed by CMG or FIFA.
X iaohongshu, the lifestyle-and-discovery social platform widely known internationally as RedNote, has secured sublicensing rights to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in China, per a TechNode report citing multiple sources familiar with the negotiations. The package comes from state broadcaster China Media Group (CMG) and covers live streaming rights as well as rights for short-video secondary content creation. Neither CMG, FIFA nor Xiaohongshu has issued a formal public announcement at the time of reporting.
Why the deal matters
The Chinese World Cup audience is the largest single non-participating market in the world, and how the rights are sublicensed shapes how hundreds of millions of fans access matches and clips. Xiaohongshu winning the streaming-and-clipping layer is the largest social-first sports rights deal yet for the platform, which has built its audience around lifestyle, discovery and short-form video. The short-video creation right specifically is what powered Douyin's 2022 cycle: it lets users remix and post clips at scale, which drove the bulk of Qatar 2022 secondary engagement inside China.
Douyin steps aside
The headline-grabbing detail is who is not at the table. Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok and CMG's primary digital distribution partner at Qatar 2022, has not bid for the 2026 cycle according to the same sources. That is a significant reshape of China's short-video sports landscape and confirms why CMG had to look elsewhere for a social-first distributor. Migu, CMG's long-standing Chinese mobile streaming partner via China Mobile, continues to hold streaming as a separate channel.
What we still do not know
The financial terms of the Xiaohongshu sub-licence have not been disclosed. Nor has the full split between live streaming and short-video creation, the duration of the deal (2026 only, or extending to 2030), or whether Xiaohongshu carries every match or a sub-package. CMG announced earlier this month that it had reached an agreement with FIFA covering the 2026 and 2030 men's World Cups and the 2027 and 2031 women's World Cups; downstream sublicensing has been rolling out since.
The China rights timeline
Earlier in the cycle, FIFA cut the China rights fee by roughly half after a months-long deadlock. CMG then secured the multi-tournament agreement covering 2026 to 2031. Today's report adds Xiaohongshu to the social-first distribution layer; Migu remains for telco-anchored mobile streaming; CCTV-5 and CCTV-5+ carry the linear free-to-air. Douyin's absence is the most consequential rebalance from the 2022 set-up.
Reporting: TechNode, May 26, 2026. CMG / FIFA / Xiaohongshu had not issued public statements at the time of writing.